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Mallikarjun Kharge to be on CIC selection panel

November 4, 2014

New Delhi, Nov 4: Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has been inducted into the three-member selection committee which will select the Chief Information Commissioner.

Mallikarjun KhargeAs per file notings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who heads the panel, has nominated Defence Minister Arun Jaitely besides Kharge to the committee.The decision to include Kharge has been taken on the advice of Law Ministry as there was lack of clarity on the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

The RTI Act requires that selection of the Chief Information Commissioner be done by a three-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.

"For the purposes of removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that where the Leader of Opposition in the House of the People has not been recognised as such, the Leader of the single largest group in opposition of the Government in the House of the People shall be deemed to be the Leader of Opposition," the Act says.

The file notings accessed by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra show that the Lok Sabha Secretariat had conveyed to DoPT on June 19, 2014, that "as on date, there is no Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. Indian National Congress with a strength of 44 mmbers is, however, the single largest party in opposition to the Government in Lok Sabha.

"As per the information received from the party, Mallikarjun Kharge is the Leader of Indian National Congress in Lok Sabha which is the single largest party in opposition in Lok Sabha."

After receiving the response, DoPT had referred the matter to Law Ministry seeking to know whether leader of single largest party can be "treated" as leader of "single largest group" in the Lok Sabha for the purpose of the RTI Act?

"Our answer to the query is in the affirmative. We, however, clarify that this answer is only for the limited purpose of the RTI Act [explanation below Section 12(3)] and not for any other purpose," the Law Ministry said in its advice to Department of Personnel and Training.

The Law Ministry had also made it clear that the term "single largest group in opposition", as mentioned in the RTI Act, is not defined either in the RTI Act, Acts pertaining to functioning of MPs and Parliament and compilations of "Directions by the Speaker of Lok Sabha".

It said it relied on the response of the Lok Sabha Secretariat saying Kharge was the leader of Congress which was the single largest party in opposition.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal ministry for RTI matters, has invited applications from the people in a given format before November 24.

According to the Act, the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) shall be a person of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass-media or administration and governance.

All the CICs appointed so far have been retired bureaucrats. The position has been lying vacant after Rajiv Mathur, former Chief of Intelligence Bureau, retired on August 22.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

The Indian Defence Ministry, which had in its document that China intruded into the Indian territory in eastern Ladakh in early May, on August 6 took down the page which it had uploaded on its website.

According to a report by news channel NDTV, the ministry, in its document, had said the Chinese aggression has been "increasing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and more particularly in Galwan valley since May 5."

"The Chinese side has transgressed in the areas of Kungrang Nala, Gogra and north bank of Pangong Tso Lake on May 17-18," the document, titled 'Chinese Aggression on LAC' stated.

The document revealed that "... a violent face-off incident took place between the two sides on June 15, resulting in casualties on both sides."

After the clash, a second corps commander level meeting took place on June 22 to discuss the modalities of de-escalation. "While engagement and dialogue at military and diplomatic level is continuing to arrive at mutually acceptable consensus, the present standoff is likely to be prolonged," it said.

A defence ministry spokesperson told the news channel that the document "did not go through him".

The opposition Congress, meanwhile, asked the government why the report was taken down with party leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that removal of the document from websites would not change facts.

"Forget standing up to China, India's PM lacks the courage even to name them. Denying China is in our territory and removing documents from websites won't change the facts," Gandhi tweeted.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 31: In Kerala, the prisoners will now work as employees in petrol pumps and take home a salary, as the Kerala government has rolled out Petrol Pumps from jail premises in association with Indian Oil Corporation.

Speaking to news agency, Rishiraj Singh, Jail DGP said that initiative to employ jail inmates in petrol pumps was taken as in Kerala there are many projects of which prisoners are a part of and are being employed.

"In petrol pumps, 15 jail inmates will be employed at each pump. The outlets of Thiruvananthapuram, Viyyur and Cheemeni jails have been started to function from today. 

Many express doubt whether the prisoners will try to escape. But my experience working with them prove otherwise. They are managing five cafeterias in the state and selling food prepared by them. We pay them Rs 220 per day for their work and the jail inmates are running it successfully particularly at COVID-19 times," he said.

The Indian Oil Corporation is investing around Rs 9.5 crore to set up four petrol pumps at the jail premises. The share of the jail department is Rs 30 lakh for setting up petroleum outlet. Other than the three presently, it will also be started in Kannur jail.

"The land has been leased to the Indian Oil Corporation for 30 years. The prisoners are employed here and for that, they underwent a training in petrol pump of IOC and the uniform will also be supplied by them, " said Rishiraj Singh About 25 cents in Thiruvananthapuram, 39 cents in Kannur, 25 cents in Viyur and 25 cents in Cheemeni open jail have been allotted.

Through this, the government will get Rs 5.9 lakh per month in rent. 

It also plans to expand the project in the future by setting up a CNG and electrical charging station. 

The petrol pumps will be also accompanied by public comfort stations.

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Agencies
June 5,2020

Malappuram, Jun 5: A lawyer has filed a complaint with Superintendent of Police, Malappuram against BJP leader Maneka Gandhi and others for allegedly indulging in a hate campaign against Malappuram district and its residents.

Advocate Subhash Chandran, who hails from Malappuram, on Thursday filed a complaint seeking registration of FIR against former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and others for allegedly indulging in a hate campaign against Malappuram and the residents of the district.

The complainant alleged that the campaign against the district was very derogatory and with a malafide intent.

The complaint stated that the unfortunate death of an elephant in Mannarkkad, Palakkad District dominated social media conversations in the last two days but a group of people deliberately added communal colour into it only to spread hatred against Malappuram, which is a Muslim majority district in Kerala.

It also stated that the elephant in question died on May 29, 2020, in Palakkad not in Malappuram as claimed by a section in social media users. Prominent news outlets operating from the South also reported that the elephant died after consuming explosive-laden pineapple in Palakkad.

The complaint also named political commentator, Tarek Fatah, for allegedly starting a hate campaign against the district and the minority community.

It alleged that Union Minister Maneka Gandhi made false and frivolous allegations against the district of Malappuram and its residents.

Chandran, through the complaint, prayed to the district police chief to register an FIR against Maneka Gandhi and others under Section 153A, 120B etc. of Indian Penal Code.

An elephant had died after she ate the pineapple stuffed with crackers and forest officials said that it died standing in river Velliyar after it suffered an injury in its lower jaw.

The elephant was seen standing in the river with her mouth and trunk in the water for some relief from the pain after the explosive-filled fruit exploded in her mouth.

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